According to the report "The State of Broadband in Latin America and the Caribbean 2016" just released by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), to be presented at the second meeting of the Conference of science, innovation and ICT, which opened yesterday, Monday in Costa Rica, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua are the 3 countries among the population of Latin America and the Caribbean, with the worst penetration rate, or less than than 15% of households connected.

Argentina, Panama and Paraguay have between 45% and 56% of connected households, while Chile, Costa Rica and Uruguay reach 60%.

The increase in the region of households connected to the Internet, said the report "allows to reduce the gap with countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which has grown from a difference of 37.2% in 2010 to 25.2% in 2015."

For internet access, the number of households connected in Latin America and the Caribbean increased by an annual average of 14.1% over the past 5 years, reaching 43.4% of all households in 2015, almost twice of 2010, the study said.

54.4% of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean used the Internet in 2015, 20% more than in 2010 "This reflects the significant progress in access and service costs, recorded in the region over the last five years," the study found.

The largest increase in the absolute number of households connected every 100 households was in Costa Rica (which increased from 24% to 60%). Chile, Argentina, Mexico and Peru have dropped two positions in 2015 compared to 2010, and El Salvador, three, Costa Rica and Ecuador have increased four and two positions, respectively.

SL/ HaitiLibre